~ 3rd person POV ~

"Wait, what the f—- where did he go?!?!"

Jimin yelped in surprise as Wonho somehow disappeared without anyone's notice.

"He slipped through, relax." Taehyung chuckled, patting the panicky man on his stiff shoulder.

Okay - Wonho disappeared only without Jimin's notice.

"Fuck you, author." Jimin scowled, an orange tint dusting his cheeks.

(A/N: Love you, too, Jimin <3

..now to fix that wall up...)

"What is this hyung suddenly saying..." Jungkook quirked a perfect brow in wonder before brushing it off. "Wonho-ssi??? Can you hear me??" The maknae yelled after the said man, hoping for an answer expectantly.

"Hurry up, you lot!" Wonho's distant voice rang through in a muffled sound and everyone collectively let out sighs of relief before slipping through the glitch one by one.

"Ow- son of a—"

Yoongi cursed out as his head made contact with a rough surface hovering above him, a small pout gracing his features as his hand moved to ease the slight sting it caused.

"Careful, Jin hyung. There's a shaky rock here." Namjoon mumbled from behind everyone else. "Thanks, Joon." Jin huffed out before finally appearing into their line of sight, holding Diana who seemed to be asleep.

"Is she sleeping?" Namjoon asked with surprise, looking at his hyung for answers. Jin nodded mutely, a small frown never leaving his down-tilted lips as his eyes trailed over the slumbering girl.

"Really? That glitch is so bright! Wouldn't it wake her up??" Taehyung wondered, feeling worried that the girl managed to sleep through such a bright light that even hurts to look at with shut eyelids.

Jin pursed his lips and shrugged, "She was exhausted. I wouldn't put it past her to sleep through it." He mumbled. Everyone had caught onto Jin's low spirits, but they reasoned it with his silent breakdown a few moments ago. He must be tired, too.

"Do you want me to hold her? You must be tired, hyung." Namjoon offered, fretting over the elder man and scooping her into his arms before Jin could even mutter an answer.

"I'm fine... like you said; I'm just tired. You know, Diana's—"

"Yeah, I-I know, hyung." Namjoon gave one tight-lipped smile before motioning towards the others who waited patiently, "We're so close now. It's just a matter of finding a purple light source here and it'll all be back to normal." He tried to reassure.

Namjoon gulped thickly when no one looked his way, choosing to not comment on Diana's light weight and he already figured that this is a good enough reason for his Jin hyung to feel so helpless and utterly worried.

He noticed Jin give him a knowing look before he plastered a smile to console him, mouthing 'I know.' To him which sums up the main problem behind Jin's low spirits. Namjoon immediately understood, because his own mood tumbled down as he adjusted his hold on the girl in his arms.

"Woah, and here I was sure I wasn't claustrophobic..." Jungkook mumbled uneasily, taking in the lower ceiling of the cave that almost made it seem like it could collapse and crush a person at any given moment. Its uneven and bumpy surface made it seem like the walls were lowering down before shifting back up from certain curves as they walked further in.

This part of the cave was much brighter compared to the previous section, so the men were glad they didn't need to rely on torches and some glowing rocks alone to navigate the untouched territory.

"How are we meant to find a purple light? Just how much deeper has it been hidden, here?" Yoongi asked, looking around actively to spot a hint of purple in this bright section.

"I feel like we'd spot it better if it was darker..." Hoseok grumbled, flinching when his eyes trailed to a white glitch just beside him, making him yelp in pain at the penetrating light from looking directly into it.

"Please, for the love of all things good, don't blind yourselves." Jin chimed in exasperation.

Although much slimmer, the expanse of this section of the cave seemed to stretch way further than the previous one. It didn't help that the cave was lit up with all colors red, blue, and green and nothing else that hinted another mix to display purple. It was beginning to frustrate the men greatly.

All the while, Diana's odd slumbers were beginning to nag at the back of their heads. No one could possibly sleep through such a bright room.

"Hyung, can I please wake her up? I'm gonna wake her up, I'm starting to get really worried..." Namjoon asked, turning to Jin who looked at him thoughtfully. He looked concerned as well, and that was an answer alone so Namjoon began to shake the girl awake, hoping to ask her about how she's doing.

Her grunts followed after being stirred, a stubborn need latching onto her in order to continue slumbering. As her eyes fluttered, not even a flinch followed as bright white lights filled her vision when she blinked awake. Only confusion, possibly a split moment of fear before she looked around, a deep frown painting her lips.

"Hey, love. I know you're um, tired... but we just wanted to check to make sure you were fine." Jin cooed so softly, bending forwards just slightly to push away some stray hairs covering her face.

"Where... where are we?" She asked, looking hopelessly lost and growing anxious at the setting's display of bright lights, which still seemingly does nothing to her eyes.

Jin perked up, glancing around, "Ah.. we found a hidden entrance in that area we entered before. This might be where we find our exit." He enlightened her.

"What?" Diana's eyes widened, her head whipping around to take in the place they've been walking in with a bewildered look.

"Is something wrong?" Namjoon asked, a frown plastering on his own face. Diana looked up at him with wide blown eyes, "W-why are we here?? How did you find this place?? Didn't we all sleep in our rooms just the other day??" She spluttered in disbelief.

"What?" Jimin stammered out, his own eyes widening at her words.

Diana began to feel unsettled, "W-why can't I move?" She asked, looking down at her own body with confusion, "My legs won't move!" She proclaimed in horror.

Jin snapped out of his momentary stupor and cleared his throat, "What are you saying? Your legs-" he bit his lips before he could finish his sentence.

'They're not there anymore...' he wanted to say. He was lost with how to proceed with this.

"They're—..." he stopped again, his brows creasing with confusion and fear, noticing how Diana continued to emphasise her inability to move.

"Y-you can see your legs?" Jimin dared to ask, everyone else holding their breaths subconsciously as that seemed to go through their heads.

Diana scoffed, "Of course, I can! What kind of question—" she sucked in a breath, her eyes fluttering suddenly, making everyone panic, "H-hey, what's wrong? What's going on??" Yoongi pushed through, standing just within her reach.

"Just uhm- a sudden headache..." she grunted, bringing her half-transparent hand to her face and pinching the bridge of her nose with a groan.

"What? Why are you having a headache???" Jungkook pointedly asked with clear worry dripping off of his tone. "Relax, it's nothing I haven't had before." She huffed, a grimace on her face before she was looking around again.

"An exit, you say? Did I wake up last?? Is this world keeping us from finding a way out? What's going on here??" She frowned, pushing back the thought of her headache behind to focus on now. Wracking her brain about her recollection leading to this point is only serving to worsen the sudden nuisance in her head.

"We-..." Jimin tried before faltering, unsure of how to bring this forward.

Diana took in the room uncertainly, "It's so dark.. how do you even see around here without tripping?? You said you're looking for an exit, right? You're looking for purple lights - Is that how we get out of here??" She asked again.

"It's dark...?" Hoseok blurted out in question, earning a mindless nod, "Isn't it?" Diana frowned.

Hoseok backtracked quickly, "I mean, yeah! Yes, I-it is..?" He agreed tentatively, a stupefied look shared among each other at what's going on.

Wonho remained stark still, "Let's keep looking. You.. can't move- um, as you say so—" he gulped, taking a step back, "—so we should hurry and find that exit." He mumbled.

"This is so weird... why- why can't I move?" Diana's low mutters could be heard by everyone, but she was simply thinking out loud.

"...why am I so calm?" She questioned in confusion, squinting her eyes at her surroundings to look for some light.

"And tired..." she grumbled.

Namjoon held back the urge to scream all of his frustration out, unconsciously giving Diana a squeeze around her frame. "Y-you've been.. um, you've been unconscious for a while, so can you try not to fall asleep? Just for the sake of my conscious of mind... you know.. I-I was worried about why you weren't waking up..." Namjoon requested, carefully choosing his words as he gauged Diana's face to find the answer before she could even open her mouth to verbalise it.

Diana blinked a few before nodding, her eyes softening at the clear distress present on his face, his prominent frown wasn't clear to see for her in the darkness, but she could gauge his stress simply by his tense muscle and the tone in his voice. "I'll do my best. We're looking for purple lights, right?" She smiled assuringly at him, relieving him partially from the stress as he returned his own smile in gratitude before he agreed at her question, occasionally adjusting his grip beneath her leg and back to hold her securely.

They kept walking in a measured pace, making sure everyone's eyes raved over every surface and corner they passed by before proceeding, intending to find that purple light and not miss it by any given chance.

"As concerning as it seems. Her inability to see all the glitches might benefit us. It's dark for her, she might be able to spot something purple better than us." Wonho brought up in a hushed voice, keeping his voice out of Diana's hearing range as to not alarm her. Taehyung pursed his lips and nodded, figuring as much himself as he sneaked a quick glance at the girl before looking around again.

"Wait! I-I think I saw some purple at the far right!" Diana meekly yelled, a little uncertain but growing alert as her eyes caught a brief glimpse of said purple illuminations. She just hopes her eyes didn't deceive her and bring everyone false hope...

"What? Really??" Jimin gasped hopefully, rushing alongside a few others to check the far right of this cave's premises to find it.

"Where did you say you saw it?" Namjoon asked hopefully, walking in the direction she pointed towards and looking for it himself.

"Wait... guys," Wonho softly said, a frown building onto his face as he watched everyone scurry around the general direction and area of the cave.

No one seemed to catch onto his calls as they grew desperate and determinatively-driven to find said purple lights.

"Guys," Wonho raised his voice again, remaining the furthest from his spot as the start of something wrong began to invade his senses.

"Around here?" Hoseok chimed expectantly, looking at Diana, who nodded subtly before he resumed searching hurriedly.

Wonho took a deep breath, his frown prominent and distressed, "Everyone!" He shouted, taking one small step ahead but keeping his distance still.

Yoongi was the first to catch onto the latter's calls and paused as he looked in his direction, a confused frown on his face upon the sound of his stress.

"Get- get away from there!!" Wonho finally all but screamed, halting everyone in their steps as they jumped on their spot from the sheer volume of his command. Without wasting a second, they all scurried over to him with unknown fear over his clear exasperation and wide blown eyes.

"Why? What is it? What's going on??" Jin spurred worriedly, glancing behind his back anxiously as the clear demand to remain away from that area of the cave unsettled him. The others too; they were uneasy with the thought of something bad lurking there, growing silent as Wonho went on to elaborate and explain the what was the cause of his concern.

"Don't... just- Stay away from there. It doesn't seem right." He chuffed fretfully. Jungkook frowned, glancing that way tentatively, "Is something there?" He asked.

Wonho grimaced, "I... I just- I think..so..? It feels wrong." He muttered, clearly frustrated.

"Can you not figure out what it is that's making you feel that way?" Taehyung asked sincerely, glancing back and forth between the cave walls and the elder man who remained tense and on edge.

Wonho gulped ruefully, "I probably shouldn't have kept this to myself, but I wanted to avoid causing any problems and induce any sort of fear to you all.." he began, urgency growing within his tone as he continued to glance at one particular spot by the right of the cave with shaking pupils.

"These glitches are hindering me and I'm not sure in what way. I can still make use of my senses... to an extent, at least.." he muttered softly before snapping his head towards Jin and Yoongi, the two of them growing impatient and demanding a straightforward answer.

"Don't beat around the bush," Yoongi frowned indignantly.

Wonho bit at his lip with frustration, growing irritated at the lack of compassion they seem to give him when he was clearly bringing forward his concerns. 'This is why I kept quiet...' he thought to himself bitterly.

"Alright. Fine." He straightened up, a hard up-front building itself before everyone's eyes as he went to spill the beans completely, "The closer nighttime becomes as we spend here aimlessly without finding that exit, the more dangerous this place becomes. All these mobs that spawn out of no particular location are brought into this world at nighttime. Their numbers increase when the sun is down and to make it any better for you lot, the cave is an eternal streak of darkness. These glitches all around us won't effect them because they're part of it all the same. This place never stops spawns and nighttime increases it's spawning rate tenfold." He threw the knowledge out in the open, no hint of understanding and sympathy showed on his face as everyone remained as still as statues.

He continued to hold his cold demeanour as his eyes took in the various degrees of fear settle into everyone's faces before he blinked once, twice and rushed towards Namjoon with a newfound fear of his own as his eyes landed on Diana.

"Why- why is she so still? Diana? Beanie, could you please talk to me?" He turned to the girl who seemed to be stuck in a heavy daze; eyes unfocused, but moving around mindlessly.

Namjoon, after remaining quiet for so long finally faltered at his strong upfront. "I-I've been trying to catch her attention for- for a while, now..," his bottom lip wobbled sorrowfully, "She- she wouldn't respond." He admitted weakly, giving her figure in his arms a light shake to stir some sort of reaction - anything out of her.

"P-put her down. Let me assess her." Wonho instructed in a rush, kneeling down after Namjoon as the latter placed her across his lap to allow Wonho to do what he needs to.

The situation didn't seem to go any better. The long stretch of silence that followed after Wonho's eyes began to examine every- and anything over Diana with great detail, and this occurrence was led after he had managed to reveal the true colours of the seemingly empty and dark cave.

As they all stood around the three players crouched on the ground, they were hyper aware that they may not be the only ones lurking in the cave's expanse. Something might jump on them given the less than favourable direction of events, or they'd walk right into one that was waiting expectantly for their arrival.

~ Namjoon POV ~

It's only a matter of minutes before I can't hold myself strongly and break from the continuous spree of bad news that gives me no room to feel relief. I know I'm getting closer to my limit and I don't know for how much longer I can hold up this façade with the happenings any longer.

The more I find out, the worst I feel. Now that we've finally reached the place that supposedly holds our way out, I can't help but doubt that possibility as well. My optimism has been flushing down the drain the longer we spent in here; ever since I've held her in my arms, the momentary feeling of having her safe and secure with me had subsided alongside the idea of a way out.

I felt and watched her throughout our time here, noticing the lack of movements on her part turn completely stark still, I watched the curious and uneasy glint in her eyes as she looked around decrease in a matter of minutes as her interest drained out of her alongside her energy to do anything at all. I'd linked this to her recent numbers of exhaustion taking another toll on her with the need to rest, but I'd completely began to overlook the absurdity of the whole thing.

I overlooked how this constant feeling of exhaustion on her behalf is not normal, but so very concerning in contrast. Her episodes have become so frequent, I failed to notice that this time it was different. She didn't resort to taking another slumber. No - she's awake this very moment but not mentally present.

The clear faltering stance that Wonho put up previously and displayed a moment ago was the moment I realised something horrifying.

We're losing her.

We're losing her.

_____________________________

Idk if anyone managed to pin point this factor in the coming chapters. Lmao u probably did, but imma pretend I caught y'all off guard.

The signs were there and if no one has thought of this yet, I will point it out myself... hehe~

Diana's POV has been gradually reduced to nothing but the 3rd POV or the Guys' POV. Anyone noticed? Probably... but again, imma pretend that u didn't for my own entertainment and go with that lolol

So wowie~ as it turns out, all those chapters of her odd episodes led her to this point! Maybe the game is truly intent on 'punishing' her for tainting the game's rules by getting herself in instead of her brother! O.O maybe it doesn't want her to leave knowing she wasn't wanted there in the first place 👀👀👀

Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well! 🥹❤️ See you next chapter! 😘💕 Love you 🥰🥰

~ Ada